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Seems to me, you can get more bang for the buck with the compact fluorescents, wattage wise. The T-5 fixtures I have seen are way more expensive in comparison.

Liters to Gallons conversion calculator
"Keeping fish for any period of time doesn't make you experienced if you're doing it wrong. What does, is acknowledging those mistakes and learning from them." ~Aeonflame
"your argument is invalid." ~Mommy1

There is a reason so many reefers and planter are ditching their compacts for T5s, the light is better, much better. Check ebay for good deals. I keep finding great options on ebay.

Combining different color bulbs can help balance the look of a tank. If you have nothing but 6500K it is a reddish white. If it is balanced with bluer bulbs the overall look is a whiter white and all colors are enhanced. The plants still get the red they need, but other colors are there too. So blue fish will show their best under mixed lighting with a higher Kelvin rating than if they are just under 6500K. And remember the Kelvin rating is just an average, most still have colors from all over the spectrum.

Combinations of lights are very common because of this. Even reef tanks usually have a varied combination of lighting. The corals need 6500K for photosynthesis but also bluer colors to enhance pigmentation.

There are 6500K bulbs, 10,000K, 20,000K, and actinic (and a few others). I use 50/50 bulbs that are half 6500K and actinic so the overall color is a bright crisp white with the reds the plants need and the blue light needed to balance it.

As long as enough of the right colors are there (mainly red) than it is fine, even there is a lot more blue that brings up the overall Kelvin color.

Strongly disagreed based on CRI. I have solely 6700K lit tanks (my daughter's 29 gallon is an example of such) and there is no "reddish white" appearance. Degrees Kelvin is separate from the CRI. A well-designed bulb can output the targeted Kelvin while maintaining an "eye pleasing" CRI. A decent article is linked below:

Personally, I use 6700K PCs with 10,000K halides on the tanks of the size that need the halides. The discussion on this thread simply proves there's more than one way to skin a cat. What works for one may or may not work for the other.

Dave

When a finger points to the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger.

Omnia mutantur nihil interit.

The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go